'Children's Fishing Clinic' May 19 at Oden hatchery

ODEN — With its seventh annual Children’s Fishing Clinic, set to take place Saturday, May 19, the Miller-Van Winkle Chapter of Trout Unlimited hopes to get the next generation hooked on the outdoors.

“As a conservation organization, we realize that these kids are the next generation of hunters, anglers and outdoorspeople,” said Greg Walz, president of the local Trout Unlimited chapter. “We want to start them on the right foot, with an appreciation of the outdoors.”

Lasting from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., kids who attend the clinic at the Oden State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center will cycle through a number of stations in groups. The stations include fly tying, learning the bugs of lakes and streams, knot tying, conservation ethics, spinning and fly casting, and actual trout fishing. Lunch is provided.

It’s the trout fishing that Walz hopes will hook kids the most: those attending will have a chance to fish the two trout ponds in which the Oden State Fish Hatchery retires its broodstock fish, some of them once-in-a-lifetime-size fish.

At one of those stations, Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Duane Budreau will teach students conservation ethics — which may be one of the more important parts of the clinic, he says.

“Sometimes it’s not the most fun part of the day,” Budreau said. “But the idea behind it is for us to convey to the kids, as well as the adults in attendance, the various laws (of fishing and hunting) and those we find most applicable to young fishermen.”

Budreau says ethics are a natural part of that conversation, as most of the laws are based around the ethics of fishing and hunting.

“A lot of the violations we see are people who are taking short fish (of non-legal length) and fish out of season, which is bad for our resource and just unethical,” he said.

Part of the DNR’s presentation includes showing the attendants illegal hooks and methods of fishing, including one particularly lethal contraption.

“We have a fish grabber, even,” Budreau said. “It was used primarily for poaching sturgeon. ... It looks like a medieval weapon.”

The fish grabber is basically a trap on a spear, he said. The spring-loaded sides with three- or four-pronged blades snap into place over the fish, which are usually spawning sturgeon. Sturgeon are famously focused while spawning, so much so that potential poachers can walk right up to the fish.

Budreau wants to reach kids while they are young.

“We like to talk about fishing, as well as hunting, as a recreational sport, and kids look at it as a game. I ask them, ‘What fun is a game to play without rules,’” Budreau said. “Every game has rules, and if you don’t play by the game’s rules, the game will break down.”

Walz hopes for the next generation of youth to become interested in the outdoors.

“Hopefully, we can grab these kids,” Walz said. “We think that fourth- through eighth-grade age period is a good time. They seem to be more receptive than high school kids, but not too young to grasp the concepts. If we can reach 10 percent of them, just to get them to realize there’s a world outside of their electronic gizmos, I feel we’ve had a successful day.”

Sponsored by the Friends of the Oden Hatchery, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Bay Winds Federal Credit Union, the clinic is free, but space is limited to the first 130 kids who register.

The clinic is open to kids in grades four through eight only.

For more information or to register, call 231-409-3345 or e-mail millervanwinklekidsclinic@gmail.com and leave the participant’s name, phone number and grade along with the name and phone number of a parent of the participant. Dress for the weather since the clinic will take place rain or shine.